1968_Auckland_City_mayoral_election

1968 Auckland City mayoral election

1968 Auckland City mayoral election

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The 1968 Auckland City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1968, elections were held for the Mayor of Auckland plus other local government positions including twenty-one city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

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Background

Incumbent Mayor Roy McElroy of the Citizens & Ratepayers ticket was defeated by his predecessor Dove-Myer Robinson. Labour Party councillor George Forsyth ran again for a second time, however he was refused official party endorsement as Labour officials preferred Robinson as Mayor to McElroy and thought fielding their own candidate would allow McElroy to be re-elected on a split vote. Robinson's promise of a "rapid rail" system to ease Auckland's mounting traffic problems was a major talking point. A new ticket, the Civic Action Party was set up as an anti-rapid rail group, some of whose members were former local body politicians.[1] Facing bitter opposition to his independent candidature Forsyth received half a dozen threatening telephone calls (who did not reveal their names) and even members of his family were abused whilst travelling publicly in buses. Forsyth said he was not worried about the callers but thought it was a "pretty poor state of affairs" that he could not offer himself as a candidate for public office in without encountering "Chicago-style opposition."[2]

Mayoralty results

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Councillor results

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References

  • Edgar, John (2012). Urban Legend: Sir Dove-Meyer Robinson. Hodder Moa. ISBN 9781869712747.

Notes

  1. "Threats To Candidate". The Press. Vol. CVIII, no. 31788. 19 September 1968. p. 6.
  2. "Massive Win for ex-Mayor of Auckland". The New Zealand Herald. 14 October 1968. p. 1.
  3. "Declaration of Result of Election". The New Zealand Herald. 24 October 1968. p. 15.

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